McDonald's Has Gained A New Ally By Sucking Up To This Group Of Bloggers

They've been identified as a group who can do big things
for the company and its brand.

Here's what Rick Wion, director of social media for McDonald's
USA, told the NYT:

"'Bloggers, and specifically mom bloggers, talk a lot about
McDonald’s,' he says. 'They’re customers. They’re going to
restaurants.' And even more important, these women have loyal
followings. Why not let them behind the curtain, hope they like
what they see and let them tell readers about it? 'We identified
them and said: ‘These are our key customers. These are key
influencers for our brand,’' Wion says. 'We need to make sure
we’re working with them.'”

So what exactly is McDonald's doing?

It's giving them perks to essentially try to influence them. For
instance, in 2010 McDonald's invited 15 mom bloggers to visit its
headquarters. It flew them and their families to Chicago, got
them a nice hotel and gave the families a tour of the HQ — the
test kitchen, Ronald McDonald House and more. They also got
access to Jan Fields, the president of McDonald's USA.

It worked for McDonald's. Each blogger was asked to write a post
about their trip, and they happened to be "overwhelmingly
positive," according to the NYT.

Now this is quite a controversial topic, since it's blurring the
lines between advertising and PR. From the mom bloggers'
standpoint, there's no other way they can get this kind of
access. Critics would simply call it a spin tactic.

Are you a blogger that has been involved with McDonald's? What's
one of these trips really like? Shoot an email to
kbhasin@businessinsider.com.